Deeds of High Knoll, Ninfield

On 3 and 4 Jan 1798 Charles Lawrence ironmonger and his wife Mary conveyed the house, garden and orchard lately occupied by John Moon to the tenant Benjamin Moore of Ninfield carpenter and his trustee Alexander Colman of Ninfield wheelwright. On 9 and 10 Apr 1819 Moore and Colman, now desribed as gentleman, sold to William Bridger of Brightling wheelwright and James Martin of Battle gent his trustee for £300, the witnesses included J Cleaver of Ninfield tailor (1, 2)

On 18 Feb 1834 Bridger, now described as of Ninfield shopkeeper, mortgaged the property, occupied by himself, Morris, Hannah Bovis and Mary Morris, to Thomas Studwell Sampson of Herstmonceux gent for £200 at 5%. William Bridger died 31 Jul 1840 and on 23 Dec 1842 Hannah Bridger of Ninfield, William's widow and tenant for life under his will of 15 Dec 1828 joined their son John Bridger of Waldron tailor and Thomas Barnard of Pevensey grocer (the trustees for sale) and their other son William Bridger of Ninfield carpenter to convey to James Pinyon of Ashburnham farmer and his trustee Horace Martin of Battle gent for £230, £200 of which was paid to William Sampson of Herstmonceux gent and his mother Ann of Brighton widow to discharge the mortgage; TSS had died 6 Dec 1836 (3, 4)

Pinyon's will of 20 Apr 1867 was proved by his son-in-law Edward Chapman Hodgson of Ashburnham farmer and Robert Thomas Martin of Hailsham auctioneer on 22 Jun 1871; on 24 Jan 1881 they sold the property, lately occupied by Edward Holland, Sidney Cuthbert and Alfred Ford and then by Edward Crouch, Miss Saxby and unoccupied, to Alfred Ford of Ninfield butcher for £200, which was raised by a mortgage to Ada Green of 7 Sutherland Gardens Mx spinster on 1 Feb [for the particulars of sale, including a good description of the property, see ACC 4426/52]

On 19 Jan 1884 Ford, now of Bexhill brickmaker, sold the property (subject to the mortgage) to Charles Sargent of Ninfield butcher (now an occupier) for £65 and on 8 Feb Ada Green assigned the mortgage to William Edward Monckton Watts of Battle esq to whom a further charge of £60 was made by Sargent's son Thomas Charles Sargent and widow Harriet on 10 Jan 1890 (5-9)

When Watts's executors transferred the mortgage to the trustees of the Court Battle Abbey (5378) of the Ancient Order of Foresters (name) a statutory declaration was made by George Sargent of Ninfield farmer aged 54, brother of Charles Sargent deceased, concerning the heirship of Thomas Charles Sargent, a baker and the occupier of the premises; certificates of his baptism at the Weslyan Methodist Chapel at Hastings and of the marriage and burial of his father are attached (10, 11)

On 1 Jul 1920 Thomas Charles Sargent mortgaged the property, including an iron building formerly used as a church, to James Graham of Ninfield carpenter for £100; on 19 Aug 1920 £60 of the Forestalls' mortgage was paid off on the sale of the iron building (11, 12)

The Graham mortgage was paid off on 19 May 1941, the Foresters' on 26 Mar 1948 and on 5 Aug 1960 the personal representatives of Thomas Charles Sargent-frames Graham of Crispe Cottage, Manchester Road, Northiam retired farmer and Arthur Clifford Morris of Coombe Cottage, Ninfield tobacconist's deliveryman assented to the vesting of the property in Greta Mary Buckner of Buckleigh, Ninfield wife of Ernest Horace Buckner (13, 14)

<span class="wrapper"><p>For deeds of another tenement of 80a called High Knoll in Ninfield and Catsfield see SAM 5-6, 23-24, 29, 42 and 53</p> <p>The iron building used as a church referred to in the deeds is shown on the 1899 and 1910 but not on the 1873 and 1930 ordnance survey maps on the S side of the property; T C Sargent is listed as the owner of an unoccupied hall in the 1910 Finance Act 'Domesday Book' (IRV 1/81). The building was the meeting place of the Salvation Army; for a vivid description of their worship and the involvement of the Sargent family, see Ninfield in the Nineties (Ninfield Parish Council, 1979), the memoirs of Alfred T Ridel, headmaster of Ninfield primary school 1921 - 46</p></span>

Documents deposited 19 August 1986 (ACC 4723)